Bed Bugs
by JWood201
Summary: Karen has a rough night with the stepkiddies while Stan's out of town on business. Season 1.


**Bed Bugs**

Insert Standard Disclaimer … Here.

Rating: G. Fluffy, relatively pointless one-shot.

Setting: Takes place some time in mid-to-late Season 1.

Karen's eyes fluttered open as she felt someone watching her. The room slowly came into focus and through the heavy darkness she finally picked out a pale, ghostlike figure standing by the side of her bed staring at her.

Karen screamed and the girl screamed right back. After a long moment, Karen fell back onto her pillow, covering her eyes with one hand. "What the hell are you doing here?" she panted, still breathing heavily from the fright. "You scared the sh –. Well, you scared me."

Olivia clutched her teddy bear closer to her body and peered at her stepmother through the red waves that fell into her eyes. "I'm scared," she finally answered in a small voice.

"Of what?" Karen snapped back, listening to the rain patter rhythmically on the large picture window behind the bed.

"I had a dream and a huge scary monster was in my room and he hid in my closet and he was gonna eat me and he growls really loud and there it is again!" the girl shrieked when a roll of thunder rattled the penthouse. Olivia began nervously chewing on the corner of her security blanket, which she had gripped in her other hand.

Karen sighed. "Lord, honey, that's just the thunder. There's nothing in your closet."

"What about under the bed?"

"No."

"In the bathroom?"

"No!"

"Come look," Olivia pleaded.

"No. I'll have your father kill it when he gets home."

"When's that?"

"Two weeks."

"I can't sleep in there for two weeks with the monster!"

"Then stay awake! I don't care. Go bother Rosario, she can do a little tribal dance and exorcise it out." Karen rolled over and closed her eyes, signaling the end of the conversation. Not sensing Olivia's departure, Karen slowly opened one eye and found her stepdaughter in the same position, staring at her with large, pleading eyes. Karen groaned and threw the blankets aside, sliding off of the bed. "All right, all right, I'll come look! If I prove that there's nothing in there, will you leave me alone?"

The girl nodded behind her teddy bear. "I promise."

Karen wandered barefoot down the long hallway with Olivia close on her heels. Stifling a large yawn, Karen pushed the door to Olivia's room open and gestured widely to the empty space. Olivia held on to a handful of Karen's nightgown and peered around her into the room. "See? No problem. G'night, kid."

She turned to leave when Olivia grabbed her hand to stop her. "You didn't look in the closet!" she insisted as Karen rolled her eyes upward, taking a moment to compose herself.

Karen stalked over to the closet, Olivia still clinging to her hand. She flung the door open dramatically and Olivia stared wide-eyed into the dark abyss. "There's nothing in there."

"He's hiding," Olivia whispered and Karen sighed violently.

"Listen to me, Curly, nothing can get into this house, okay? So unless this monster came up through the toilet from the sewer, he doesn't exist!"

Olivia looked terrified at this sudden option. "He can swim," she finally whispered.

"Olivia, I've had enough! I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Goodnight!" Karen wrenched her hand free and turned to leave again when a roll of thunder exploded outside and Olivia attached herself to Karen's leg, almost knocking them both over.

"Now you made him mad, Karen."

"That was thunder." Karen was cut off by a low moaning noise and Olivia tightened her arms around her stepmother, burying her face in her side. "And that was the wind," she explained as a loud creaking followed. "And that was … well, I don't know what that was, but it's not in your room. Now let go of me before you get snot all over my La Perla and go back to bed!"

"But Karen, I –."

"I don't want to hear it, Olivia! You're seven years old, start acting like it!"

After a moment, Olivia silently peeled herself off of her stepmother's side and stepped back. She stared dejectedly down at the carpet, her teddy bear hanging by a paw from one hand and her blanket trailing onto the floor from the other. The skinny little girl watched her feet as her pink pedicured toes traced designs in the creamy carpet.

Karen stalked past her towards the door before slowing to a stop. She finally sighed in exasperation and leaned into the doorframe. "Fine! But I'm warning you, missy, if you think you're gonna start pulling this crap every night, you've got another thing coming! Understand?"

Olivia's head snapped up and she grinned at Karen. She nodded vigorously, her red messy mane bouncing around her face. She turned and bolted out of the room only to return a few seconds later to grab Karen's hand and drag her into the hallway.  
Back in the master bedroom, Karen climbed into bed and turned her head away, closing her eyes and saying nothing. Olivia watched her for a second before clamoring up onto the bed beside her. The child slithered under the covers and slid around trying to get comfortable. She spread her blanket neatly over herself and rescued her teddy bear from where he had landed on Karen during Olivia's fastidious arrangement of her sleeping accommodations.

Karen flinched and shoved the bear off of her face. "Oh, just pick a spot and calm down already, ya Mexican jumping bean! Good Lord."

Olivia gave her a look and safely tucked her bear under the arm furthest away from Karen. She slid around once more to make sure she was comfortable and settled into the thick soft pillow.

A little while later, Karen rolled over and opened her eyes, spotting another figure standing by the side of the bed. She shrieked once, instinctively grabbing Olivia and clutching her to her chest. Olivia woke up as she was tugged backwards and looked up groggily at her little brother. Mason stood there silently with his security blanket draped over his shoulders like a cape and hugging a stuffed dinosaur.

"What's your problem?" Karen quipped as a peal of thunder erupted outside and he cringed. "You too?" she sighed. "I swear, you rugrats need to grow a set and get over yourselves. All right, what the hell, get in," she added when he continued to stare fearfully at her.

Mason grinned and scampered around to the other side of the bed in his footy pajamas. He flung his blanket and dinosaur up in front of him before scrambling onto the mattress himself, effectively whacking Karen in the stomach with the stuffed toy in the process.

"Ooh! Why do you kids need so much crap just to go to sleep? Lord." Karen sighed and shoved some hair out of her face. She backed away from Olivia only to collide with Mason behind her. "This is a king sized bed, for God's sake. Can't you people find your own spot?" When there was no response, Karen looked down at her stepchildren, breathing rhythmically in their sound sleep. "Dammit," she muttered, lying back down between the two unconscious children and trying to make due with what little room she was given. "It's like Stanley never even left. He's gonna hear about this when he gets home. Of course, then he'd want to thank me for dealing with them. And that ain't happenin'. Ow!"

Karen scowled down at Olivia, who had rolled over towards her and consequently lobbed an arm over her stepmother's abdomen. The girl shifted in her sleep, scooting closer to Karen and laying her head on her shoulder. Karen glanced at Mason, who was curled up at her other side, his blanket twisted around him and using his dinosaur as a pillow. "Well, this is just fabulous," she mumbled sarcastically. "Absolutely fabulous."

Karen moved around under the comforter as much as she could with two children practically attached to her, trying to get comfortable. She draped her left arm over Mason, as it had nowhere else to go, and ran her fingers through the four-year-old's hair. The little monsters were actually kinda cute when they were comatose, she observed with a wry smile.

"Sleep sweet," she whispered before settling into the thick expensive sheets and drifting off herself. Outside, the rain continued to beat down on the window and the thunder to crack across the sky, but the Walker children didn't notice, safely tucked away in their parents' bedroom wrapped in their stepmother's arms, three figures tangled peacefully together in the center of the huge bed.


End file.
